Market benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty declined in early trade on Wednesday amid unabated foreign fund outflows and tracking a weak trend in global markets.

The BSE Sensex went down by 240.75 points to 81,579.37 in early trade. The NSE Nifty declined 62.7 points to 24,994.65.

From the 30 Sensex firms, Mahindra & Mahindra, Nestle, UltraTech Cement, Tata Consultancy Services, Kotak Mahindra Bank and IndusInd Bank were the major laggards.

HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Asian Paints and Sun Pharma were among the gainers.

"Market sentiment remained cautious with foreign investors selling Rs 63,900 crore in October," said Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 1,748.71 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.

In Asian markets, Seoul and Tokyo traded lower, while Shanghai and Hong Kong quoted in the positive territory.

The US markets ended lower on Tuesday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.23 per cent to USD 74.42 a barrel.

On Tuesday, the BSE benchmark declined 152.93 points or 0.19 per cent to settle at 81,820.12. The Nifty settled lower by 70.60 points or 0.28 per cent to 25,057.35.

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